The first time it didn't happen, the damp remains of Kathleen's house were still warm. Peter went into the pub to comfort Kathleen, but she'd never taken to him and had no intention of doing so now. Doc Ryan suggested she lie down in one of Assumpta's spare rooms for what little remained of the night.
"No, thank you. I want to see it."
Peter said she'd better wait till morning, it was too dark to see anything now.
"Come on," Assumpta led the way upstairs and Doc Ryan shepherded Kathleen along. Peter went to the kitchen for a drink of water.
The doctor came down and called out 'goodnight' from the bar.
Peter put his glass away and stepped through only to find himself face-to-face with Assumpta.
"Making yourself at home?" she said, then reached up and touched his cheek. "How close were you standing to the flames?"
Maybe the adrenaline had kept the burning at bay but now that she drew attention to it, he felt it.
She pulled back her hand. "Michael should take a look."
"I'll be fine. He's gone home."
"Ah, well I probably have something." She went through to the kitchen.
He hesitated, then followed. "It's not serious."
"Oh, but masochism is entirely serious. Here you go." She pulled a bottle of bright blue gel from a cookie tin full of first aid supplies. "I think I bought this for sunburn."
"In Ireland?"
"Haha." She squirted some onto her hands and feeling all the inevitability of it, applied it to his forehead.
He gasped at the cold then sighed.
She thumbed it across his cheeks.
"Thank you."
"Someone else could have taken a turn standing at the front of the line."
He shrugged, "They all have loved ones."
She stopped her hands, voice failing. "You think you're an exception."
"No."
"But they all do."
"It's fine. There was no real danger. It's nothing serious."
"I never said."
He held his breath, not sure he understood her rightly: there was plenty she'd never said and how could he guess or hope for any one thing?
The building creaked, reminding them that Kathleen was upstairs. Assumpta gave the burn gel one last swipe.
"Thanks." He half-turned away. "I'll, ah, see you."
She nodded.
He left.
